


Meeting Time and Again

by DarkJediQueen



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Elves, F/F, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-23 18:04:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16623821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Spencer Reid, the only Human raised in the Village of Cali, goes with his Elven best friend, JJ to meet her betrothed in the Village of Virgi. What neither of them expects is to meet someone who sweeps them off their feet.





	Meeting Time and Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TJLaurentide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJLaurentide/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Art for Meeting Time and Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16672960) by [TJLaurentide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJLaurentide/pseuds/TJLaurentide). 



> **Beta** : Grammarly & TJLaurentide
> 
> When I saw the art, a single scene was in my head and it stuck. When writing that scene, a larger and more complex story came about and that is what you have here. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Please go and give some love to the artist who made this possible.

# The First Meeting

Spencer Reid was wandering around the land at the outer edges of the village he was visiting. It was the first time that he was allowed out of the village that he had been raised in. Spencer had trekked across the country with his best friend, JJ. Her name was actually Jennifer Jareau, but she preferred the name of JJ. Her parents called her Jennifer though, and she hated it but being the daughter of the Lord of the Village of Cali meant that she had to be called Jennifer informal settings. 

"Emily," JJ said from somewhere across the small copse of trees that were in front of Spencer. He frowned because as far as he knew JJ knew no one in Virgi, the village that they were visiting to have the wedding of JJ to her betrothed Hotch, Lord of the Village of BAU. 

"Hello, JJ. It's been a long time," a woman said. 

"We were children. Where is Sergio?" JJ asked. 

Spencer turned toward where the voices were coming from. JJ was a full-blooded Elf, and that meant there was no way that Spencer was going to sneak up on her but sometimes if she was focused on something else then she didn't realize Spencer was there. There was an upside to being with JJ as much as he was. 

Humans were not looked at with a good eye in the Elven world, in fact, most were hated, but even Elves had a soft spot for Human children, which was what Spencer had been when JJ's parents had found him. He had been five years old when his mother had forced him to leave her as they had traveled through war-torn lands of the Elven nations on the west coast of their continent. The east coast that they were on now was very different from the west, and Spencer was loving walking in the woods. 

Spencer had not been told the fate of his mother for weeks after he had been taken in by JJ's parents. She had been found dead on the road, Human rogues who were trying to raid Elven villages. Spencer had never asked the state of her body, and he never wanted to know. He knew when he got older that they had probably not just slit her throat but as long as he never actually knew it was better. 

"He's around."

"So what are you doing here? Your parents had taken you away for the war, taken you someplace safe." JJ sounded upset. 

Spencer looked down more than up as he moved through the trees, making sure that he wasn't going to step on a stick. The leaves he could little about but since it was still spring the ones on the forest floor were still soft, and there was no crunch of leaves. 

"After the war, mom settled in BAU. I've lived there since then." 

"So what are you doing here?"

"Retinue for the Lord of the BAU. With all of the meetings going on this week here in Virgi, it's chaotic, and I'm not needed as much as my Lord thought I was going to be. He's not here yet either, so I really have a lot of time on my hands."

"That's good. I was shocked when I got the message to meet you here."

"I wanted to see you. I've thought about you often. With the ties between east and west still strained I wasn't sure how to get a message to you that wouldn't possibly start the wars again, but now the time has come; Lord Hotchner has finally decided that his bride to be is of age enough to follow through with the wedding."

"Yeah," JJ said, and her tone was one that Spencer was used to. It was because she was the one set to marry Lord Hotchner. 

"I made us a picnic like we used to do. I hoped that we could catch up," Emily said. 

"That sounds really good. I need a break."

"How did you slip your guards?"

"One of my guards, Will, he's my friend, and he's walking a perimeter around here, making sure that no one else gets near us." 

"That's good." 

Spencer got close enough to see the woman that JJ was talking to. She was stunning, with black hair and fair skin. Spencer remembered a painting that had been in JJ's room for years after Spencer had been taken in by her parents. It showed her with a young black haired girl. The girl in the painting had to be this woman, and her name was Emily. 

Something rubbed against Spencer's legs, and he barely held onto the scream that wanted to rip from his throat. He turned and looked, but no one was there. Another brush, but this time it was on the front of his leg and Spencer looked down to see a black wolf there. Spencer went for his dagger on his belt, but the wolf knocked his hand away before grabbing the edge of his pants to tug him along with him. Spencer looked at the wolf, and he looked familiar, but Spencer hadn't seen any wolves except for wild ones in his life. He would have to think about it. 

Spencer wondered if this was Sergio, Emily's pet wolf. Spencer didn't stop the wolf from dragging him away. He followed along beside him as he was dragged over to an area of the river that ran in the middle of the small area around the Village of Virgi. He was shoved to sit down on a blanket. Spencer didn't even try and move even as the wolf walked away. 

There was a small pile of books in the blanket and the remnants of a meal. Spencer's stomach growled as he looked at the meal. He hadn't eaten lunch, too distracted by wandering to the new place. Many of the Elves in the area didn't like that Spencer was representative of the Cali clan, but JJ's parents were too afraid to travel across the land. There were still Humans who didn't like sharing what they thought was their world with anyone, but especially Elves. 

Getting bored after ten minutes of sitting there, but still being too scared to get up and leave, Spencer grabbed one of the books. He flipped through it a few pages until he realized that it wasn't a book he had read before. Spencer flipped back to the start and started to read it. 

Spencer devoured the first book, followed by the second and the third before he realized that someone was watching him. Spencer looked around the clearing that he was in and found that there was an Elven male standing in the shadows made by the trees. Spencer closed the book and laid it back with the others. 

"I've never seen anyone read that fast, Elven or Human," the male said as he stepped out of the shadows. He was built differently than most other Elves that Spencer had ever met. He was built closer to a Human than an Elf. He was handsome to Spencer though. He was the first Elf to ever look at Spencer like he wasn't scum on the bottom of his shoe. 

"I'm sorry for disturbing your resting area." Spencer shot up and tried to straighten up what he had disturbed. "A black wolf dragged me here. I wasn't sure why and I didn't want to make him upset."

"Black wolf, that's mine. He's a pet." The male stepped forward and gripped Spencer's arm. Unlike other Elves who manhandled Spencer, he was gentle. He sat down and pulled Spencer down with him. Spencer watched him reach into the basket and pull out a bowl with cut fruit in it. He set it down, and next was a plate of cheese. "Eat, Spencer Reid."

Spencer eyed him and did not reach for the food. "How do you know my name?"

"Everyone knows who you are. The favored intellectual from Cali. You've outscored every single Elven child every year that you have been with Lord and lady Jareau. Best friend to Miss JJ Jareau. You are a celebrity here in Virgi."

"Everyone hates me."

"Not everyone and not those who matter," the male said. His hand dove back into the basket and pulled out a second plate. He carefully picked fruits and cheeses and dropped them onto the plate. When his hand emerged again from the basket, he was holding a few strips of dried meat. He set those on the plate before scooting it over to Spencer. "Eat."

"Who are you?" Spencer asked. 

"You can call me Aaron. Unlike you my last name is unimportant. My wolf has been following you for days. Watching over you. He tells me what you do and where you go. You are not back home in Cali Spencer, and the Humans attacked here stronger than there. Why do you think it's a good idea to roam around these lands alone?" Aaron picked up a chunk of strawberry and ate it. After that, he scooted the plate of food closer to Spencer. 

"No one told me that I couldn't. Or that I shouldn't."

"Well, I am. If you wish to still galavant around the area, wait outside the rooms you were given for my wolf to get you. With him around, no one will bother you."

"I can defend myself. I was taught how to."

"From magic?" Aaron held out his hand, and a flame appeared in the palm. "You can't stop someone from burning you alive, Spencer."

"Neither can your wolf."

"No, but he can rip their arm off before they do. He's trained to detect the start of spells." 

"Why do you care?"

"The seven betrothals that were decided at the end of the war will go into jeopardy if you are injured. Miss Jareau would back out, and then it would be a domino effect of the rest not trusting."

"And why do you care?"

"I have an interest in making sure that all of the weddings go as planned," Aaron said. 

Spencer narrowed his eyes at him because he was used to being talked down to. Spencer looked at the food on the plate, and he felt a little sick. Spencer shoved himself up to his feet before turning to leave. If Aaron had a vested interested in the wedding, then he wasn't going to touch Spencer to harm him. 

Half a mile away from the small clearing that he had been in, Spencer stopped to get his bearings and go back to where he was staying. He wasn't that far from the edge of the village, so he quickly made his way that way. Halfway there, Spencer heard something in the underbrush and stopped to find it.

It wasn't until Spencer started to walk backward toward the village that whatever was making the noise decided to come out. It was the wolf, Aaron's pet wolf. Spencer stopped and looked him in the eye. He wasn't sure, but those eyes were very intelligent even for an Elven familiar. Spencer hoped that it didn't follow him through the village. 

Spencer stopped twenty steps inside of the village and turned. The wolf was nowhere to be seen. 

# The Second Meeting

Spencer was really starting to fucking hate that damned wolf. Even if Spencer left his room early, it was there waiting for him. If he went to the market, he couldn't lose him. Spencer had yet to tell JJ of it. She was getting more and more upset by the fact that Lord Hotchner wasn't there yet. Word had arrived that he was delayed due to an attack by Humans on the edge of his land and he was needed to calm that. 

JJ and he ate lunch together every day, but that day JJ had sent word that she wanted to do it out in the forest around the village, have a picnic. Spencer wasn't sure about that, but he was heading his way to where she wanted to meet. If it weren't for the fact that Spencer saw her as a sister, he would think that there was something up because of where they were meeting. On Spencer's third day he had found a secluded waterfall that had a small pool at the base. There were many flowers that grew there and it was beautiful. 

Spencer stepped out of the trees and saw that JJ wasn't alone. Emily was there with a raven sitting on her knee. Spencer swallowed because JJ was holding Emily's hand. Spencer didn't know what to think of that. JJ was not an affectionate person. She was with Spencer, but that was because of their long years of being friends and almost siblings. 

"Spence, I want you to meet Emily Prentiss. She was my friend until she had to move away when we were younger. Emily, this is Spencer Reid."

"So you are the one that JJ's parents took in." Emily was giving Spencer a peculiar look. Spencer ignored it and focused on JJ. She looked happy, much happier than Spencer had seen her in a long time. If Emily made JJ happy until she married a man that she didn't want, wasn't in love with, and had never met, then Spencer wasn't going to mess that up. It was all that she wanted, JJ's happiness. 

The hours passed with Emily and JJ talking and including Spencer in on the conversation as much as possible. There was a pleading in JJ's eyes for Spencer to accept Emily and it wasn't until after they were packing up to leave that Spencer realized why. 

Emily had never been far from JJ's mind. She was brought up a lot after Spencer had been taken in by the Jareau's. In fact, in the beginning, Spencer had been told a lot that he would never replace JJ, and it wasn't until that moment seeing the way that JJ looked at Emily that Spencer realized what she meant. JJ was in love and had been in a form of love with Emily since they were children. It would put the wedding to Lord Hotchner in question, but Spencer wasn't going to tattle to anyone. He wanted JJ's happiness over everything else in the world. Even if that meant that he would lose the family that he had made in Cali. 

Spencer stayed even after Emily left to attend what little duties she had while her Lord was delayed in his arrival in Virgi. JJ left, going back to the village with her and Spencer wasn't sure that they were going to sneak away to do more. 

"Humans shouldn't be alone, even pets," someone said. 

Spencer turned, his hand going to the dagger that he had strapped to his forearm under his shirt. It had been gifted to him by Lord Jareau on his tenth birthday. The forearm sheath had been several years later. Spencer almost triggered the release spell on it, something that he could so if he focused enough when a growled ripped through the air. Spencer saw Aaron's pet wolf in the clearing around the waterfall, too far away though to stop the Elven man who was aiming a crossbow at Spencer. The only thing that Spencer could do was dodge when he heard the twang of the released of the bolt. 

Pain ripped through Spencer's arm as the bolt embedded itself there instead of his heart where it had been aimed. Spencer fell into the pool and fought to not sink, even with one arm unusable. He half expected to be pulled out of the water and his throat slit. However, when Spencer finally broke free of the water to gasp in a breath, he found that the two Elves were dead, both of their throats ripped out and Aaron's wolf was between Spencer and anything else that was going to arrive. Spencer pulled himself up and out of the water, at least enough to where his chest was on the ground instead of in the water. It would also make sure that he wouldn't sink back down in. 

"Go get help," Spencer begged of the wolf. It turned and looked at him before leaping away to go and get help, Spencer hoped. There was no position that Spencer could lay in that didn't hurt. The bolt had gone all the way through his arm, but it still hurt, and given the look of the wound when Spencer finally looked at it, he was pretty sure there was poison on it. 

It was confirmed when the world started to bend a little at the edges before it all went dark.

* * *

Spencer woke up to the feeling of being warm, too warm. He hadn't been overly warm since arriving in Virgi, used to Cali's warmer weather. He started to push himself up, but as soon as he put his weight on his arms, pain shot through his entire body and he fell back down to the bed. When the pain had gone away enough to where Spencer could see, he looked around to realize that he wasn't in his room in the village. He wasn't sure where he was. There was no one around but the door opened seconds later and in came Aaron. He was dressed in finery that looked like he had been in them for a little while. 

"You are awake, you woke up earlier than I thought."

"Where I am?"

"A little cottage that I keep on the edge of Virgi lands."

"What happened?"

"When the guards for Virgi and Cali arrived, you were gone, and the two Elf bodies were still where my wolf had ripped their throats out. A look over the bodies and they found a missive where you were to be killed, and it blamed on the Royals from the Village of BAU. That right there meant that they are looking everywhere for you. I have gotten word to JJ that you are safe and sound but that until the poison in you has run its course, you are being kept from everyone." Aaron stepped forward and sat down on the edge of the bed, drawing up the covers to Spencer's chin. 

"I want to go back to Virgi," Spencer demanded. 

"No. I won't allow it. This has already put in question the wedding between Lady Jareau and her intended. I can't let that happen."

"Who do you work for?"

"I work for no one. I do this because it's needed. It's the call that magic gave me. You were given one half of a poison. That half make your blood not clot. The second half, usually given just a few minutes later makes your organs bleed. If you were to even get a drop of it into your blood before this poison lives it's life in your blood, you will die, and magic won't be able to save you." 

"Who are you?" Spencer asked. He tried to shuffle away from the Elf on the bed, but the pain in his arm stopped him. 

"I told you who I was." Aaron reached over to pick up a cup from the table at the bedside, and he held it out to Spencer. Spencer reached for it but found that his muscles didn't like to move, even on his good side. "The side effect of the first bit of poison is muscle weakness all over the body. That's the other reason you are not leaving here. You wouldn't be able to defend yourself from a leaf much less anyone else who took the job to try and stop these weddings." 

"Just take me back to the village and let me go to my room."

"The secondary poison can be delivered in any way, shape, or form. It's going to take a week for the first to leave your system even with the magic I can employ to get it out. Are you not going to eat or sleep for a week so that you know nothing you are given is tainted?"

"How do I know that you aren't just doing this to stop the weddings? You say you are doing to it to help them but how can I be sure that you are actually a friend to me and JJ?"

"Because I don't lie."

"But how do I know that? I don't know you." Spencer tried again to move, but the pain and the weakness in his muscles stopped him. He groaned and finally allowed himself to settle on the bed. He was worn out, and now he was sweating as well. Aaron cursed and grabbed a rag from a basin of water and touched it to Spencer's face. It felt cold and just perfect on his skin. Spencer closed his eyes, and he knew he was too tired to open them again. He settled into the bed even more and let sleep take him. He would wake up or he wouldn't. He really didn't care.

* * *

Spencer woke up the second time with a hunger pang in his stomach. He felt cool finally, and before he started to move, he forced his eyes open and looked around. The cottage was empty again, but there was evidence that Aaron had been there not long before. Something was cooking in the firepit on the side of the room. It smelled wonderful. 

Pushing himself up a little. Spencer found the cup that Aaron had tried to give him before on the side of the bed. Spencer reached out with his good hand and tried to grab for it. He got it on the third try. Some slopped out, and the smell hit him. It was a tea that he had not drank in years. His mother used to make it for him. It was from an area of their lands near Cali. It was a wholly Human tea. Spencer had asked for it for years, but the Jareau's had never heard of it, and no attempts at reproduction by Spencer ever made it. Spencer took a sip, it was cold, but Spencer didn't care. He drank the entire cup down as soon as he made sure that there was nothing extra in it. Spencer found that it was correctly like he remembered. 

Spencer heard the door to the cottage open, and he tried not to react. He wanted to drop the cup, but that would shatter the clay, and he would rather be caught drinking the tea than breaking the cup. It was just the wolf, but still, Spencer clutched the cup close to his body. Aaron did not follow the wolf inside. Instead, the wolf trotted over toward where Spencer had seen a pile of leaves on a table was. Spencer figured it was something to either help Spencer sleep or get better. The wolf gently wrapped his teeth around a handle on a weird vessel and lifted it. He carried it over to Spencer. There was a note attached that it was to be consumed after the tea. Spencer looked at the concoction inside of what he now knew was a handled soup bowl. It looked vile and unappetizing. Spencer dropped the cup to the bed and took the bowl. The wolf trotted back over to fetch what looked like a tea kettle made of metal. 

The wolf sat down just far enough away from the bed that Spencer couldn't reach him and eyed the soup bowl. Spencer lifted the bowl up enough to where he could dip his tongue into it. It didn't taste as horrible as it looked, so Spencer quickly drank it down. He knew that it was stupid to do it, but he felt like shit, but he felt less shit like than he had before. If Aaron had given him some of this already, then it would mean that it was helping. 

"What are you, my watchdog?" Spencer asked the wolf. It bared its teeth at him and growled lowly but didn't do anything else. "What else am I supposed to call you? Watch wolf? I don't need alliteration in my life." 

The wolf made a sound that was almost like a laugh. He walked over the tea kettle and set it down on the edge of the bed before getting up onto it. He laid himself across Spencer's feet. Spencer eyed the wolf for a few seconds before lifting the tea kettle to where he could pour it out into the cup that he had pressed between his knees. His one arm was still no good to use, so he made do with the other. Spencer poured out a fresh cup and drained it before pouring another. The kettle was full, and he had missed the tea so very much, even cold it was wonderful. Spencer drank the second cup more slowly, looking at the wolf as he did. The wolf was watching him, again with eyes that were more intelligent than other wolves that Spencer had ever seen. 

"Where did your master get this tea?" Spencer asked, knowing that he wasn't going to get an actual answer from the wolf. Spencer pulled up his legs so he could settle the tea cup there and reached out with his good hand. The wolf inched forward to allow Spencer to pet his head. "I had dreams as a child of a wolf like you. Even this scar." Spencer touched the little scar on the wolf's nose. It didn't rear back or make a noise at all.

"Back when Mom and I used to live elsewhere." Spencer looked at the wolf and debated what kind of relationship Aaron had with his wolf. If Aaron could pick up words from the wolf or not. The wolf was intelligent enough to understand Human speech but whether he could relay those kinds of words to Aaron was a different story. "Back when I lived in a castle. Mother ran away with me. I never did figure out what father wanted to do with me other than marry me off to an Elf Lord of some kind. Mother didn't like it and ran. That's why I have never asked what happened to her other than dying. I don't want to know what the men who my father sent after mom and I did to mom because I know that it wasn't pretty."

The wolf scooted up, even more, pressing along Spencer's side. He licked at Spencer's injured arm before gently wiggling his head underneath of it, propping it up on his neck. 

"Father always called my dreams of you unnatural. It's why he wanted to wed me off to an Elf. He also hoped that it would stop the Elves from allowing the war onto our lands. I was so thankful when the Jareau's did not realize who I was. I never told them. I never told JJ either. It makes me a bad friend, but I don't think that I want to meet the Elf who would have married a Human child at the age of thirteen. I couldn't even give him children. I still don't understand why he wanted me." Spencer felt drowsy. He looked down at the cup of tea, and it looked fuzzy. "What did your master put in this tea?"

Spencer picked up the mug with his good hand and set it down on the table before his body started to go to sleep without him wanting it to. He didn't want it spilled all over himself. Spencer didn't even have time to scoot down in the bed before the world went dark. 

* * *

Spencer came awake with a grunt and then a hiss of pain. Something had woken him up, and it took a second for the world to come into focus as he opened his eyes. There was another loud bang, and Spencer realized it was a thunderstorm. He could hear the wind howling. He looked down at the bed but the wolf was gone, and the cottage was empty. Spencer scooted up slowly, finding his limbs hurt less, except for the one that had been shot that was. It still hurt a lot and whatever pain herbs that he had been given were wearing off. Still, Spencer forced himself up to where he could at least go to the window to look out on the storm.

Thunderstorms in summer were Spencer's favorite thing. He wanted to stand in it and feel the rain on his skin. He was a little wobbly for the first few steps but gained some strength that he walked. The view from the two windows was not enough to make Spencer happy, so he walked to the door and opened it up. He stepped out and sighed as the rain on his skin cooled him down. He was still running hot from the poison. Spencer cradled his hurt arm in the other and tipped his face up to let the water hit it. It felt so good to Spencer. He was still shirtless from where it would be hard to get one on him without hurting him a lot, so the rain cascaded down his face as well as neck and chest. It made Spencer shiver in pleasure. 

Unsure how long he stood like that, Spencer reveled in being able to enjoy the storm without someone yelling at him that he was going to get hit by lightning. Spencer was forced out of his pleasure though when he realized that someone was staring at him. He could feel it like a bug crawling up his back. He opened his eyes and looked around. Aaron was standing at the edge of the clearing in front of the cottage. His eyes were watching Spencer, and there was desire in them. That made Spencer self-conscious. He tried to wrap his arms around his body but stopped when moving the one sent a bolt of pain through his body. Spencer's legs started to give out, and he began to drop to the ground. 

Strong arms caught him, and when he looked up, Aaron was right there. The desire was still there along with a lot of worries. 

"Why are you out here?" Aaron asked, his voice husky. 

Desire had never been something that Spencer felt for anyone. Those who had wanted to bed him had only wanted to do so because he was Human or because to Elves he was exotic. Spencer had learned to push away those looks and ignore them. Given that he was the adopted child of the Jareau's meant that he never had to fear those who would take what he didn't give freely. Spencer had noticed male and female elves, and the few Humans that he had interacted with, but no one had ever got more than an appreciative eye. 

Yet it was Aaron, an Elf that Spencer disliked on a lot of levels who smelled of rain and sweat, who was holding Spencer gently yet keeping him from falling on his ass that was getting Spencer to feel desire for the first time. 

"I like the storm. I like feeling the rain on my skin," Spencer said his own voice sounding husky to his ears. 

"You shouldn't be out where anyone can see you," Aaron said, and he moved. Spencer gasped as Aaron lifted him into a carry hold and walked into the cottage. The fire was still burning in the hearth, so the cottage was warm, but still, Spencer shivered. Aaron set Spencer down in a wooden chair right near the fire. 

"No one is going to hunt me in this storm." Spencer wanted to grab the blanket that was near him and pull it over his body, but his pants were soaked. 

"My wolf saw someone on the edges of the land I own here. Someone is looking for you, and it's not the good people." Aaron started to strip naked. He wasn't wearing anything under his shirt and pants so Spencer saw his half hard cock out of the corner of his eye as he looked into the fire quickly. Moments later, Aaron was crouching in front of him, a pair of loose-fitting pants that were standard for sleeping in on his legs and his chest was still without clothing. He reached up with a towel and started to dry Spencer off. Spencer said nothing because he was afraid that his voice would still be husky with desire and he didn't want Aaron to know. Spencer knew nothing of the man, so it was just a desire of the flesh and nothing more. Spencer could deal with that. 

Aaron was gentle as he dried the skin around the bandage on the wound. When Spencer's upper body was dry, Aaron produced another towel and helped Spencer to stand. The pain had got rid of any stirrings in his cock, so he didn't have to worry about that. Spencer wasn't too proud as Aaron worked his wet pants off of him. He was in no condition to dry himself and given that he was not in the pants he had been wearing before he was shot, Aaron had already seen him naked. 

It was but the work of minutes before Aaron was helping Spencer into a pair of pants much like the ones that Aaron was wearing. He was gentle as he did it and gentle as he helped Spencer settle down into the chair again. A blanket was wrapped around Spencer's back and tugged down to lie flush with the seat of the chair, but it wasn't wrapped around Spencer's injured arm. Aaron touched the still very wet bandage before starting to unwrap it from his arm. Spencer looked at it and frowned because it looked infected. He reached out and touched, but it wasn't warm like it was infected. 

"It's the poison. The poison is made worse by standard infection treatments, this poison is very good at making sure the person is in utter pain if not managed correctly."

"How do you know so much about it?"

"It was used to kill my mother and father. They were left to linger for days under the first before given the second to kill them within minutes. I've made it my job to know everything about it."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Aaron said, and he glanced at Spencer's face, smiling. 

Aaron looked good, handsome, but when he was smiling at Spencer, he looked almost beautiful. Aaron was focused on the wound, so he wasn't paying attention to the fact that Spencer was staring at him. His face was flawless like many Elves, too vain to allow scars from fights to stay on their faces. Spencer held no hatred toward Elves even though he had been treated not the kindest by those outside of Jareau household. They were only dismissive, not mean. Spencer had been treated worse by the people in his own household growing up. 

"Reid is a very rare name in the Human world. I remember a king with that name many years ago."

Spencer didn't say a single word about that. He didn't look away from Aaron either. He knew that his face was unreadable by most Elves because he had none of their visual cues even after so long of living with them. 

"Spencer?" Aaron called out. 

"Oh, sorry. I was focused on something else. Did you say something?" Spencer asked.

"I said that the name Reid is rare in the Human world. The only time I have ever heard, it was a King many years ago."

"It was pretty common where I am from." Spencer regretted that as soon as he said it. 

"The wars started over that King," Aaron said thankfully not asking about where Spencer was from. 

"I remember a little bit of it."

"Hmm." Aaron was distracted by cleaning out the wound on both sides of Spencer's arm. "Cali village was isolated on the edge even though the Human city of Vegas was closer to them. I'm sure you hear very little of it. King Reid had promised his son to who was then the son of the reigning village close to them. Then it seems that King Reid had his wife and son kidnapped and killed. He tried to blame it on the wife running off, but the body of the wife and child were found on the side of the road brutalized. He then blamed the Elves for taking them when he had only promised his son and not his wife. It spilled out with Humans attacking Elves, and then even Elves turning on Elves."

"King Reid was killed?" Spencer asked because he had never heard that. He assumed that his father was will alive in Vegas. He was the reason the Elf war had started. Spencer wasn't sure what he thought of that. 

"He was executed by the Elf Lord closest to him. When all was said and done if it was found out that the wife had run with the child, unwilling to see her son married off as a teenager to an Elf Lord that was over the majority. The King sent butchers after them. When he was captured by Elven forces, he was interrogated, and it was found out that he was going to hold the Elves to a dowry price until the boy turned thirteen. That gave the king money that he had promised to others before killing the boy and making it seem an accident just weeks before the wedding and starting the wars that would have happened anyway. It was a big conspiracy on the part of the Humans of Vegas to take Elven lands around them and try to enslave Elves. The Humans of Vegas were all interrogated and released if they were found to have no part in it. A worse war was averted, but I am sure that you have learned what Elven tempers are like. Hence the marriages. It's why I am striving so hard to keep the weddings intact. I don't want another war like that again. I would rather peace between Humans Elves, but that was botched by a Human with more greed than sense."

Spencer didn't know what to feel about it all. It was too much, and it was too confusing. Spencer's father had been cold to him, but much like the Jareau's were with JJ it was because of her station. He had never thought that it was more. Spencer had been nothing but a pawn in a long game. His mother's actions in the running away with him made a lot more sense at that moment. Aaron said nothing else, just bandaged his arm after slathering it in a cream of some kind and then wrapped the blankets around him tight. Spencer sat and stared at the fire for a long time. 

Aaron brought him a cup of hot tea, pressing it into his hand before walking away again. Spencer took a drink of the tea, and it warmed him all the way through. 

# The Third Meeting

"This is insane!" someone yelled. Spencer looked over toward where the voice was coming from. It was the dignitary that had come with them to Virgi. Spencer had been back in the village for two days when it was pronounced that he had none of the poison left in him. Aaron's wolf had escorted Spencer the entire way to the inn that the retinue from Cali was staying. Everyone they encountered that kept their distance and Spencer was pretty sure that most of them knew the wolf in some way shape or form. Emily had been outside of the inn, talking to JJ when Spencer had got in sight. Emily had known the wolf and had stared at him the entire time. Spencer had almost asked her who Aaron was in the hierarchy of the Virgi but stopped himself as it was too public of a venue. Aaron hadn't told him, so there had to be some want of privacy, especially given where Aaron lived.

"Lord Hotchner states that the Reid child is alive and demands the right to marry him instead of Lady Jennifer but has put a match between Lady Jennifer and his current marked heir. Lord Hotchner has a child, but that child is unwilling to become a Lord, so he named one of his court members an heir. She's here in Virgi." That voice Spencer knew well; it was the emissary between the Village of BAU and Cali.

"Who?" JJ asked. 

"A Lady Emily Prentiss," the emissary said. 

"The body of Queen Diana and her son were found on the side of the road outside of Vegas. There was no way that it was mistaken."

"Lord Hotchner knows that two bodies were found outside of Vegas, but the King was the only one who identified them. It wasn't impossible for the Queen to get away. She was one of the few Humans with magic, it was why she was married to King Reid. She could have got them further away. Lord Hotchner holds that the Prince made it nearly to Cali."

Spencer gasped, and it told those in the other room that he was there. 

"Come out, Spencer," JJ said. She did not sound upset at all but instead looked fond. She had been looking at him that way since he had got back. 

"This is your Human?" the emissary asked. Spencer had heard him, but it wasn't a shock that the man didn't know Spencer on sight, even if he should have as there were few Humans that many Elves ever met.

"He's my best friend yes. Why?"

"This is the drawing of the Human man who Lord Hotchner holds is Prince Spencer Reid." A paper was tossed onto the table, and Spencer stepped up to look at it. It was indeed Spencer. "Are you Prince Spencer Reid?"

"Yes," Spencer said. 

"Spence?" JJ asked. Her eyes weren't shocked though. She had known. Spencer wondered if the rest of the Jareau's knew, or even the rest of the household. Spencer knew that JJ cared for him and the only reason she would have not told him that she knew as if she was afraid that it would hurt him. He wondered though if all of them thought that he hadn't remembered who he really was. Or the trauma of what had happened had wiped it from his memory. No matter how much Spencer tried, forgetting was not possible, there was just ignoring. 

"I'll marry Lord Hotchner," Spencer said because he would do anything to allow JJ to marry Emily. It was perfect because Spencer didn't want to go back to Cali without JJ and going to BAU, even married to a stranger, would be better than anything else.

"Spence, no."

"You love her, JJ. Your Emily. I could tell that the first time that I saw you with her. If I marry him, you can marry her."

"It's not worth it."

"I would have been married to him years before if I had stayed at home and mom hadn't run with me." Spencer felt scared because he had never met Lord Hotchner before but he couldn't not do it if it gave JJ what would make her happy. He would be allowed to live near JJ and see her, and that was all that mattered. 

"Spencer, just think about it."

"I have thought about it as much as I need. I won't change my mind. I trust you to make the arrangements. I think I need to lie down." Spencer turned and headed up to the top floor of the inn to settle into the room he had been given. He frowned because the door was open. Spencer laid his hand over the dagger sheath on his side and entered the room. Aaron's wolf was there on Spencer's bed. Spencer shut the door and locked it before walking to the bed and crawling into it. He wrapped himself around the wolf and started to cry. 

Spencer didn't care about his marital status. He never cared to marry, and he never cared to not marry. There had been talk of wedding him off for strategic alliances to other high profiled Human or Elven families by Lord Jareau, but Lady Jareau had shut him up about that. 

JJ came up at some point, but Spencer ignored her. He just laid there in bed, numb. He agreed to it, and he would go through with it, but he didn't want to do it. 

* * *

Early the next morning, Spencer left the inn and made his way to the exit that the wolf led him to. It was one that Spencer had never seen before. He wasn't even sure where the wolf was leading him, but he had been prodded out of his room and to the exit before he had even really got dressed for the day. So whatever it was, Spencer knew that the wolf had a plan. Spencer really hoped that it was taking him to Aaron.

Aaron desired him, and just once Spencer should know what it felt like to feel desired. 

The cottage was empty but the fire burning, so Spencer knew that Aaron had been there at some point. The wolf dropped him at the door and left. Spencer debated for a few seconds if he should go in or not, but in the end, the warmth of the fire won. It was a chilly morning. It was warm in the cabin, and Spencer looked around at the evidence of an evening meal. Spencer found the tea leaves and started to prepare a cup of the tea for him to drink quickly before he started to strip off his clothes. The tea was ready, and with a little cold water in it, he could drink it before slipping into Aaron's bed. 

Spencer didn't know how he wanted to be in bed, lying on the blankets while naked seemed a little too forward especially if someone else entered the cabin. He grabbed the thin cover and used it as it wouldn't make him too hot. Spencer hoped that Aaron didn't have someone. It would be awkward if Aaron turned him down for that. Spencer almost had himself talked out of it and was half off the bed with covers mostly off of his body when Aaron entered. Aaron had seen him naked before, but there was something about it when Spencer was awake, and he tugged the covers up to his neck. 

Aaron's eyes took in the bare arm that he could see and then moved to the pile of clothes in the chair. 

"This is really stupid, Spencer." Aaron shut the door behind him and locked it. 

"Why?"

"You shouldn't be here. It's already been noticed by the Cali guards that you are not in your room. No one will look for you here but still." Aaron stepped closer to Spencer, his eyes not entirely on Spencer's face, but lower, looking at his body. Even though it was hidden by the cover. 

"I have not had to mark my coming and goings since I hit the age of majority Aaron. Lord Hotchner has not arrived yet, and no instructions have been given to me. I am here of my own free will."

"That part is debatable." Aaron finished stepping up to the bed. He looked Spencer in the eye for a few seconds before sitting down. "Why are you here?"

"Because you are the only one to ever look at me with desire in your eyes because you want me and not because I'm Human and exotic."

"Your soon to be husband will love you, Spencer. One day he will. Do you want to run the risk of ruining that for this?"

"The original contract between my father and Lord Hotchner did not have a clause for the state of my virginity nor did the one between JJ and Lord Hotchner. If it was assumed, I was never told that. If Lord Hotchner doesn't come to love me just because another had touched me before, I don't want his love."

"You love JJ that much?" Aaron asked. He reached out with his hand and cupped the side of Spencer's face, his hand was warm, and Spencer closed his eyes before turning his face into it. 

"I want her happiness more than I want my own. I never had a sibling growing up, well the first part of my life but I think that this is how siblings should feel to each other."

"It is, Spencer. It's how I feel about my little brother, even though he's not so little anymore." Aaron drew Spencer forward, making him lean into Aaron before he brushed his lips over Spencer's. It was soft and sweet, and Spencer tried to press into it more, but Aaron's hand on his face stopped him. "If you change your mind, Spencer just tell me. I won't care. This is a lot to give to a stranger."

"You aren't a stranger, you are a friend."

Aaron kissed Spencer again, this time running his tongue over Spencer's lips before slipping it between to touch Spencer's teeth. Spencer opened his mouth, and Aaron turned the kiss more intense. Spencer could only react after Aaron had acted. His tongue was maddening inside of Spencer's mouth. Spencer let go of the cover and tentatively laid his hands on Aaron's thigh and his side. Aaron moaned a little, and it told Spencer that he was doing something right, so Spencer shifted the hand on Aaron's side from above his clothes to below them. Aaron's hand tugged the cover to where it was being pulled off of Spencer before he wrapped said arm around Spencer's waist to pull him that much closer. Aaron was strong and lifted Spencer up to allow him to straddle Aaron's waist at the same time he turned. 

"I'm too weak to say no," Aaron muttered against Spencer's lips as he pulled out of the kiss. He looked up into Spencer's eyes, and there was such want in them that Spencer couldn't deny him. Aaron jerked his shirt off of his upper body before he pulled Spencer back into a kiss. 

Spencer had no clue how long they kissed like that, bodies pressed together as much as possible and touching, they touched each other so much that Spencer was sure that there wasn't a part on Spencer's body that hadn't been touched by Aaron. 

Aaron moved them along by turning on the bed and dropping Spencer onto his back in the middle of it before he stood up and stripped off his pants. Spencer had the urge to cover up because Aaron's eyes were roving up and down his body, but as Aaron was as naked as him, he felt it a little stupid. Spencer took in Aaron's form which was more muscular than many Elves that Spencer had seen, but there were scars on his body as well. He was well versed in fighting yet as he laid his body over Spencer's he was gentle and soft. Aaron slotted their bodies together, and it was a perfect fit. Aaron felt too good between Spencer's leg like he belonged. 

For a few seconds, Spencer debated that this might not be a good idea because what if he wanted this too much. What if he craved the touch of Aaron and he couldn't deny himself even after he was married? Spencer pushed those thoughts away because he would rather have Aaron once and crave him like a drug than not have him at all. 

"The next time, we will swap," Aaron said, and it took a few seconds for Spencer to understand what he was talking about. Aaron drew one of Spencer's legs and his fingers were pressing in where no one but Spencer had ever touched, or at least no one but Spencer since Spencer had learned to use the bathroom on his own. There was something slick on Aaron's fingers and one pressed in, shocking Spencer and he clenched down. Aaron said nothing and didn't move but instead just stayed still, eyes locked on Spencer's face. As Spencer's body realized that he wasn't hurt he relaxed and the finger slowly pressed in further. 

Spencer got lost in Aaron's touch on his body and inside of his body as Aaron prepared him for sex. It didn't feel like a quick get off to Spencer, but he kept that to himself. He felt worshipped, and he felt loved, especially as Aaron finally pressed inside of him. Aaron's cock felt more substantial than his fingers had and he knew that it was longer. There was the burn of the stretch but no real pain for Spencer, Aaron had been through. Spencer's eyes were pressed closed, trying to hold onto the memory of what this felt like. He would learn Aaron's face when he had this feeling learned. 

"Look at me," Aaron whispered against Spencer's lips when he was all the way inside of him. 

Spencer forced his eyes to open, but it took a long time for his eyes to actually focus on Aaron. Aaron was looking for something on his face, and Spencer didn't try and hide. Aaron found what he was looking for and he smiled down at Spencer before kissing him. Spencer kissed him back with just as much passion as he was being kissed with. Aaron didn't move other than that for several minutes before he slowly rolled his hips back and rolled back inside of Spencer. 

If this was what sex was like for everyone, Spencer could understand why they were obsessed with it. Spencer clung to Aaron as they rocked together. He didn't want it to ever end even though he knew that it had to. Aaron was continually kissing him, his lips and then down to his neck when they parted from kissing. There would be bruises on Spencer's skin, but he didn't care. Aaron made love to him like he was never going to have him again and Spencer knew that they weren't. 

They came at the same time, Aaron's lips pressed to the skin just below Spencer's ear as he came. Spencer's hands were gripping Aaron's back so hard that Spencer was pretty sure he was going to leave marks. 

Spencer didn't want to let go of Aaron, but after several minutes, the evidence of their sex was starting to bother Spencer. Aaron pressed Spencer into the bed and got up to get a rag. He cleaned them both up before prodding Spencer up out the bed and wrapping him in a blanket before changing the sheets on the bed. Spencer watched him, unsure what to say to him. Aaron was touching him, on the hip to move him, on the shoulder as he passed. Even with crying himself to sleep the night before, Spencer hadn't slept well, it was still morning, so when he was allowed to lay down again, he was asleep near instantly. 

# The Fourth Meeting

Spencer had got used to the black shadow of Aaron's with him at all times. The only people who gave the wolf a second look were those that Spencer had learned were from BAU. That told Spencer that even though Aaron had never said it, he was under Lord Hotchner's rule. That made things better and worse. 

After waking up, Spence had found the wolf in bed with him and a note from Aaron that said he had things that he needed to attend to and would be gone for several days but that Spencer was to not lose his wolf at any time. Aaron had left a plate of food for him that was still warm when he started to eat it. 

It was the morning of JJ's wedding to Emily, and the whole of Virgi was turning up for it. It was going to be the first with the other six taking place after. Spencer's own wedding to Lord Hotchner was going to take place in BAU and therefore would be happening in two weeks. Spencer had met many of the people who were in Virgi that were Lord Hotchner's men and women, including a very weird Half-Elf named David Rossi. Spencer still wasn't sure if he liked him. Rossi had stared at the wolf for a long time before he had finally looked at Spencer with a little bit of respect in his eyes. Spencer wasn't used to that look from anyone. 

"Lord Reid," a male said as he stepped up to Spencer. Spencer looked to see that it was Morgan, one of Lord Hotchner's guards. Morgan had barely looked at the wolf even from the first moment of arrival. "Lady JJ bid me to tell you that her parents are delayed on the road. It seems that a storm ripped through the lands and washed away not only the bridge that leads over the river between here and there but also there are many felled trees. They will not make it in time for the wedding os they have turned back, and their gifts will be sent along at a later time. Lord Jareau wants you to give away JJ."

"Thank you." Spencer waved to dismiss Morgan and laid that hand on the wolf's head. Spencer was introspective, and that meant that the wolf was always right there, his head on whatever part of Spencer's body he could get away with. The door shut and Spencer turned to look at the wolf. "No Lord Jareau, no Lord Hotchner. One would think that no one cares about the fact that the daughter of one of the Lords of the Land is getting married."

The wolf chuffed at Spencer, it was almost chastising. 

Five hours later, it was the after wedding party and Spencer was alone at the table where JJ and Emily had been sitting until the dancing had started. JJ looked beautiful in green while Emily was in pink. During the first kiss as wife and wife, JJ had wrapped her cloak around Emily. No one would saw the happiness on their faces would say that they were faking it, unlike the other wedding that Spencer knew would follow in the days after. There was one scheduled every day for a week before all of the retinues from other lands would go home. 

When Spencer had left his room, he knew that he wouldn't be going back there. He had come to like the room at the Inn, but the people from BAU were in a different inn on a different area of the village, and that was where JJ would be going back to before she and Emily set out to enjoy their honeymoon. Spencer would stay in his new room until it was time to leave. Rossi had already set up meals to be delivered to the room. Spencer didn't care where he was as long as no one bothered him. 

JJ and Emily would return directly to BAU just a day before Spencer's wedding to Lord Hotchner. 

"Would you like to dance?" a male asked. Spencer turned to look at him and shook his head no. There had been many who asked over the night, but as Spencer knew none of them, he didn't agree to dance. The wolf growled at the Elf before he could say anything else. The Elf looked down at him and cleared his throat before leaving with a muttered apology. 

Spencer patted his knee, turning in the seat to allow the wolf to lean against him. Spencer watched the happy couple as they took turn after turn on the dance floor, only stopping to drink more wine. The wine was flowing, and the food was plenty. The meal had already been eaten, but there were snack foods on tables along the wall of trees that lined the dance floor. There was also wine that was being served by the trayful by servers around the area. Spencer had drunk several already himself even though he had eaten little. 

The wolf had disappeared after the meal and Spencer wasn't sure when he had come back. He was glad that he had. Spencer had got very used to him as his shadow. Spencer wasn't looking forward to the day that he had to give up his shadow. They would head to BAU, and then Aaron would have to go back to whatever duties he had for Lord Hotchner. Spencer only hoped that he would get to see him on occasion. 

"Lord Reid?" Morgan asked from Spencer's side. 

Spencer pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at the Elf. He had a plate of food and a new glass of wine, one in each hand. Morgan set down both of them in front of Spencer. 

"Eat up. You are flushed with drink."

"And yet you bring me more wine." Spencer picked up the fork he had been using before and stabbed it through some kind of cheese tart. It was all bite-sized, the food on his plate but still, Spencer used his fork. He watched Morgan as Morgan looked around the room. Spencer figured that he should probably get used to him because it wasn't like he was going to be left behind. 

"Well, you need something to help with the food. I hate meals like this. There is never enough of the good stuff, only the crappy. I got you the good stuff." 

Spencer didn't know what to say besides thanking him, and he did, but then he turned to his food. He watched JJ and Emily sneak off. Rossi was following behind them, so Spencer didn't worry. Morgan was still right there beside them. Spencer looked at the faces of the people in the crowds. He knew none of them. Spencer ate all of the food and drank the glass of wine. 

"I guess it's your job to get me back to my new place of residence for the week?" Spencer asked as he stood up. The wolf settled at his side, standing as tall as he could. Morgan looked down at the wolf before he looked at Spencer. 

"Yes. Rossi is getting the ladies to the little cottage that Hotch rented os that they wouldn't have to share with an inn full of people on their wedding night. They will leave in the morning for their actual honeymoon trip." 

"Then I'm ready to go to sleep."

Spencer followed behind Morgan as they walked through the deserted village. Everyone else was at the party for the wedding. Spencer felt the charge in the air that said someone was casting magic. He turned to look around, and when he looked back at Morgan, Morgan had daggers drawn. The wolf was moving away from Spencer toward the darkness. He started to growl. Spencer hadn't worn a single weapon. 

The wolf lunged as an Elf man stepped out of the shadows with a spell prepped. Spencer watched the wolf jump and actually tear off the Elf's arm. Morgan ran forward and tossed the Elf backward onto his ass. Three more appeared. The wolf's growl turned into a snarl, and Spencer watched as the wolf turned into an Elf. Spencer watched as Morgan and the Elf took out the three new ones. It was a butchering, but Spencer didn't run. He stayed where he was because, with Morgan and the other fighting, he was safer than in the dark running on his own. 

One of the dead Elves was staring at Spencer with unseeing eyes, but Spencer couldn't look away. Death had been such an outlier in Spencer's life. He hadn't seen dead bodies before. Spencer backed up and put his back into a tree. When Morgan was sure that there were no more coming he turned to Spencer and looked in the area behind Spencer before turning to the man.

"What the hell?" Morgan asked.

"My status as a shifter was on a need to know basis," Aaron said before he turned to face Spencer. Spencer just stared at him. Aaron had been the wolf the whole time. 

"Well I needed to know," Morgan said. 

A group of guards ran into the tiny clearing that they were in. They were BAU guards. 

"Lord Hotchner," one of them said, and it was like a rushing sound in Spencer's ears.

Spencer looked at Aaron, the man he had started to fall in love with and put that name together with Lord Hotchner. Lord Aaron Hotchner. Spencer was sure that he had heard his given name at one point, but he had filed it away into an area that he didn't need to remember. As a Human, Spencer would never be allowed to call an Elven Lord by their given name. 

"Spencer," Aaron said, and he stepped closer to Spencer, but Spencer stumbled away from him, almost tripping over the roots of the tree. He looked at Aaron, the man who had saved him, cared for him, who Spencer had fallen for and who it seemed he was to marry in a week's time. Aaron had never lied to him, even freaked out Spencer knew that. Aaron had never told him his full name and stupid that he was, Spencer had never asked. 

"I think that I would like to go to my room; please, My Lord," Spencer said. 

"Spencer," Aaron said, and he started forward again. 

Spencer did fall that time, but he never took his eyes off of Aaron. Morgan stepped forward and pulled Aaron backward some. 

"Hotch, he's freaked out. I'm freaked out. He's been hanging with a wolf for days, and by the look on his face, he didn't know you were a wolf either so let him calm down. I'll take half of the guards with me and escort him to the room you had set aside for him." 

"Fine," Aaron near growled. 

Spencer knew that he had hurt Aaron, but he didn't really care. Spencer was freaked out like Morgan said and he wasn't sure what he was going to do. Morgan walked over to Spencer and helped him up. He was gentle but distant, unlike Aaron. Spencer didn't look at Aaron once as he passed by him. He kept his face forward and didn't look back. 

The room was very nice, and Spencer realized that it shared a balcony with another room, so he made sure to lock the door. He liked that the doors had a drop bar lock to make sure that no one got in. Spencer was pretty sure that the room was Aaron's. 

Sitting in the dark, hearing the edges of the music playing from the party, Spencer tried to see where he had gone wrong. Spencer had always thought of the Elf who was going to wed him when he was thirteen as a monster. Knowing what Aaron did to make sure that JJ was old enough, Spencer had to wonder what would have happened if his mother hadn't run with him, other than his father killing him. 

An hour later, Spencer counted time by the breaths that he took, there was a scratching at the door that led onto the balcony. Spencer wasn't going to open it and let Aaron in, in either his Elf or wolf form. Spencer didn't care about the fact that Aaron and the wolf were the same. What he cared about was the fact that Aaron had not told him who he was before that morning. Aaron had not told him before he had taken him to bed and had sex with him. 

Spencer chose not to engage Aaron who Spencer was pretty sure was settled outside the door. Every once in a while Spencer could hear him move around. 

The days passed, and Spencer had his meals brought to him, and he didn't leave the room. Morgan made his excuses for the weddings, he had come down with a sickness and was unfit for polite company, which wasn't a lie, he was not fit for polite company. Morgan brought Spencer books from the library, by the armful twice a day with breakfast and then in the middle of the afternoon. 

Aaron never came to Spencer's room as an Elf, he only came at night as a wolf. The day came where Spencer had to leave his room to go to his new home. Spencer dreaded it because he would be unable to ignore Aaron. Morgan and Rossi were the people standing outside of Spencer's room. 

"Hotch has a carriage for you, or you can ride on a horse," Morgan said. 

"Who will be in that carriage?"

"Just you. Aaron always leads the troop home. It will be a three day trip with the entourage that we have or if you would like I can escort you on horseback straight to BAU, and it will take a day. We can take a different path than the carriages have to take." Rossi didn't sound any different than he had the last time that Spencer had talked to him. There was no tell in his voice or mannerisms that said which one he thought that Spencer should do. 

"I think that I like the horse better."

"Good," Rossi nodded and looked at Morgan. Morgan nodded back and left. "The word has been spread that the young Human Prince that Aaron is supposed to marrying is meeting him in BAU from the secure location that he was in over the years, so we do not fear bandits on the road. Aaron is spreading the word that he fears you being sick and the trip and sleeping in the wild and what it will do to your sickness and that is why you are going with me the quick way."

"He has a plan for everything huh?" Spencer asked. 

"He tries to. Sometimes his own damned pride and his want to make everyone else happy gets him shot in the ass."

Spencer said nothing. The tales of Lord Hotchner on the battlefield was legendary. There was a reason that he started a whole new village after the end of the war and it was less to do with starting a new place where all are welcome and more the fact that many wanted to follow him and not the Lords and Ladies they had grown up serving. 

When Spencer laid eyes on the stone wall that surrounded the Village of BAU, he wasn't sure what he felt. It wasn't despair because no matter his status as Lord Hotchner's betrothed, he would be accepted. Spencer saw men and women as well as Elves and half Elves wandering around shopping as well as selling things. BAU was the heart of trade in the land. Spencer had never been himself, but he had sent lists with the traders that went from Cali. They never failed to get him what he wanted. 

"Tomorrow after you rest you can look around the village to your heart's content. For tonight let's get you into the manor house that Lady JJ and Prentiss will be moving into when they arrive here."

"Not Lord Hotchner's home?" Spencer figured that it would be where he was moved into. He wouldn't be able to avoid Aaron then. 

"No. Not until the wedding. Then to keep up appearance, you will be expected to at least act like you are happy to be married to him."

"I can fake things with the best. I never stabbed the ambassadors from other villages like I wanted when they called me names better left unsaid at dinners that I was forced to be at. You don't have to worry about me, and you can tell Lord Hotchner that." Spencer laid a hand on the pommel of the saddle of the horse. She was a gentle beast that when they had rested at a stream hadn't liked to be far from Spencer, even if he was just looking around. Spencer had been forced to stay by the stream so that she would drink. 

"Of course."

"Show me home so I can rest." 

Spencer was looking forward to the next day to look around before everyone knew who he was. Before Aaron arrived and turned his world upside down.

# The Fifth Meeting

Spencer stared at himself in the mirror that was just the light from outside casting a glow on him. His finery was just that, very fine. He had never been dressed in something so lovely. It had to have been a rush job, but it didn't look like. Spencer was alone for the first time in a day. The preparation for his wedding had begun the day before by making sure that his Human face showed no blemishes since he had refused makeup. This morning had started way too early with him being woke up before dawn to work on his hair. There were several braids in it now with a dark purple ribbon wrapped in the braids. Spencer liked how he looked, he looked like what he was, a Human raised in the Elven world. His garb was closer to what he had worn when living with his parents than anything else that he had worn since then. 

JJ and Emily had arrived early, coming to see him last night. JJ had said nothing about who he was marrying so Emily must not have told her who exactly Aaron was and his sneaking around with Spencer as a wolf. JJ had asked about the wolf, but Spencer had told her the truth, he hadn't seen him since he had been taken into the BAU village. 

Spencer stepped around to where he could look at the sun in the sky, it was near time for the wedding. There was one aspect of the wedding that Spencer was looking forward to, unlike Human weddings there was no need for proof of consummation. In fact, Spencer had found out that many Elven couples waited months after the wedding to have sex. The ones that married for love never did but the arranged ones, many did. The thing was that Spencer had already been taken to bed by his husband to be, he just hadn't known it at the time while Aaron had been fully aware. Spencer didn't know what he would have done if Aaron had been forthright that night but he wouldn't be as angry as he was right now. 

"Ready?" a voice asked from behind him. Spencer turned to see that it was the wedding planner that had been hired to do the first wedding and had been kept on for the second. 

"Yes."

"You know many think that you will back out," the female Elf said. She had never introduced herself to Spencer, so Spencer had never asked her for her name. It was a custom in the Elven world to not ask for names that were not given and the wedding planner refusing to provide Spencer with her name was a slight that Spencer could do nothing about until he was actually married to Aaron. 

Rossi was standing outside the door and looked at the Elf with a look of disapproval.

"You are not supposed to be here, David Rossi. You are supposed to be standing at the altar with Lord Hotchner," the Elf said to him. There was a tone in her voice that Spencer knew well. It had been the same tone she used with Spencer when she talked to him. Spencer had thought it was just him but the only thing that he and Rossi had in common was the fact that they had Human blood.

"Lord Hotchner wants a small change. In the Human world, one of the two getting married is walked down the aisle by a significant figure in their life and given away to the other. It's a symbol of the family relinquishing their hold on the person and letting them fully go over to the other family. Lord Hotchner would like that done with Prince Reid."

"There is no way. It's not how I had it planned."

"I know. Lord Hotchner is well aware of your plans and given what I just heard you say to Prince Reid, I can figure out what your plans were. Spencer," Rossi said as he turned to look Spencer in the eye. "JJ is waiting for you at the doorway into the hall. I'll join Aaron at the front, and then someone will open the doors for her to escort you down the hall."

"I refuse to let this go. I was hired for a wedding, and I will do the wedding."

"Yes, you were hired for a wedding. A wedding that Lord Hotchner wanted as a blend between the BAU traditions and the traditions of Vegas since it was the merging of the two lands. You chose to ignore that and do a fully Elven wedding. It was only the hustle to get other things taken care of that had it slipping Aaron's notice."

"He doesn't know what he wants," the Elf said. 

"Oh, no. He knows exactly what he wants, and it's not you," Rossi said. He waved at Spencer to start moving, so Spencer did. 

Spencer wondered how it had got passed her that he was in traditional Human garb as compared to Elven unless someone else was in charge of the outfits. 

JJ was waiting right where Rossi said she would be and she was all smiles. There was a sense of sadness in her eyes though. She wrapped Spencer in a hug. 

"You say the word Spencer, and we can leave. I'll get you somewhere safe, and this need not happen."

"I want to be where you are, and this is the best thing. Lord Hotchner won't mistreat me."

"I know that he won't. He wrote me letters you know. Three times a year. He told me all about who he was and what he had really wanted out of life but that the wars had put all of that on hold. He talked about you. The three times he had met you."

"I don't remember that," Spencer said. 

"No, he said that he never engaged you in conversation. He watched you from afar as you read or played. He said on his last visit to Vegas before your mother ran with you, he watched you blow up a room because of a science experiment."

"I was trying to figure out a way to delay the fuses even more on the detonation charges used for mining. I had a friend, Ethan, whose parents died because of a faulty fuse that blew too early. I didn't want that to happen again. However, one of the last people in my little room had mixed up powders. My father was livid that I was so careless and stupid, but when the guilty person had stepped forward to say that he had been confused on what was what and that he thinks that he might have mixed them, father was even more livid."

"He will be good to you, Spencer. I know that he will. It's not in him to be cruel, but I wanted love for you. I thought that you following me here while I married Lord Hotchner would give you the chance to find another Human or even a Half-Elf to marry. Someone who will love you."

"I never thought that was in the cards for me," Spencer said honestly. He had given up on finding love after the second female Elf that he had liked had turned him down, he had tried again with another male but found the same derision in him. "But he'll take care of me. He'll be nice to me, and that's more than I ever thought that I would have."

"Emily told me that he's been placing orders for books for the library so that you wouldn't run out. He is trying, but I'm afraid that you won't try. You'll be what you think he wants and bury everything inside that makes you Spencer Reid."

Spencer didn't know what to say to that. He couldn't lie and tell her that he wasn't going to because it was precisely what he had been planning on doing. Before Spencer could form an answer, the doors were opening, and Spencer got a good look at Aaron. Aaron looked nervous. He looked really nervous like he was afraid that Spencer wasn't going to do what he promised to do. 

The ceremony itself passed without Spencer even really noticing it. He stumbled through his parts, and every time that he stuttered, Aaron would smile at him and squeeze the hands in his own. When the time came for the kiss to seal the marriage, Spencer felt Aaron's hands on his cheeks, holding him like he was precious. Aaron used his hands to hide that he wasn't actually kissing Spencer. Their lips were parted by scant millimeters. Spencer closed that distance. He was willing to try. He was willing to do anything. 

Aaron kept Spencer right there for a long time. When Aaron finally let him go, Spencer looked around to see that the hall was empty. 

"Oh," Spencer said, and he started to blush. He hadn't heard them leaving at all. 

"We have a few minutes more, Spencer. Please, talk to me." 

Spencer shook his head, but he buried his face into Aaron's neck and wrapped his arms around him. Aaron wrapped his arms around Spencer as well, holding him tight. Spencer had too many emotions swirling around inside of him. He needed to get them figured out before he could speak about them. 

"I'm sorry, Hotch but the meal is ready to be served," Morgan said from near where they were. 

Spencer looked to see that Morgan was not looking at them but at a spot that was kind of to the side of where they were. 

"We will be there in a few moments, Morgan." 

"Yes, Sir." 

Aaron drew Spencer's eyes back to him. "Let me speak my words, and then you can say what you want." Spencer nodded. "I am sorry that it was how you figured out not only that I was the wolf but that I was your intended. I kept saying to myself when I started to feel for you that I would tell you both. Then there you were, in my bed, naked. I should have told you then instead of asking about what would happen if your intended spouse would see an issue with you not coming to his bed chaste. Even as I said the words, I hated myself, but I didn't stop myself as you know. I had planned to arrive as Lord Hotchner the next day after JJ and Emily's wedding and hope that you forgave me. I will not say that I fell in love yo when you were five, but I did like you then. I saw the man I thought you were going to become, playing at being a scientist and doing better than many I had seen before. You cared about everyone around you. The first day that I saw you, you spend seven hours reading under a tree. At the age of four. I watched you from a window. I could see that your brain was the reason why your father was all but selling you off. He cared little for anything else but his greed. If you had come to me at thirteen like the plan was, I was going to send you to the best schools across the whole of the land. You would learn what you wanted and visit home during breaks. I was set to become your friend, and I hoped with time more."

"I didn't..." Spencer bit at his lower lip. He didn't know if Aaron was done speaking yet or not. Aaron gave him a smile and reached to pull the lip from between Spencer's teeth. 

"I'm done."

"I'm used to being treated as exotic, JJ's pet best friend. You were the first person to see me as someone separate from her. It was better than the life that I thought I would have if I had told anyone who I was. I remember the war, what little I saw of it and I knew that one of the Lords who was so lauded for protecting their land was the one my father had betrothed me to. So I made sure that no one would guess who I was. I didn't know that Lord and Lady Jareau knew or that JJ knew. I guess they were protecting me in the only way that they knew how. They could have curried a lot of favor by giving me to you long before now."

"They might not show it, but they love you, in their own way. They are coming here in a week to see the both of you. I do have one last secret to tell you. Something that I want to tell you before when we walk out there the whole of the land knows it."

"Yes?"

"A little under six years ago, I was injured in a battle for a bit of land at the edge of BAU territory. I wandered away from my people in a delirium from a poison. I was found and nursed back to health by a Human woman. I did not fall in love with her, but she was beautiful, and she was kind. It wasn't hard to repay her in the manner that she wanted, which was a bed warmer as it was winter. Seven months after I left her house, better in both mind and body from the poison, I received a letter from her. She told me that she needed to speak with me, alone or with those I trusted most. I went with Dave, Emily, and a young Elf who was learning the ways of medicine as I feared she was sick. When we arrived, we found the house she had been living at in tatters. She was half alive on the bed, having been brutalized by a band of Human and Elven bandits. Dave got to her first, but we all stopped when we heard the cry. After leaving her for dead, she had given birth to my son. His features, even as a newborn, were unmistakable as mine. Dave and Morgan hunted the bandits and killed them while I sat at her side as she drew her last breaths. I brought Jack back as an orphan, and he's lived here in the castle as a ward of mine for the past five years. Today, I claim him as mine, as ours and he will be announced as Heir. Emily has held that for years, but she really doesn't want it. We kept it that way to make the Jareau's happy, but JJ will explain it all to them. 

"Daddy?" a voice called out. 

Spencer turned to see a young Half-Elf standing at the doorway. He was looking at Aaron with a little bit of shyness on his face. Spencer remembered seeing his face in the crowd as they had walked up the hall for him to stand beside Aaron. 

"Come here, Jack." 

Aaron crouched and held out his hands. Jack came running up the hall and jumped into his father's arms. 

"Did Aunt Emily send you to find me?" Aaron asked.

"Yes. She is hungry, and so am I."

"Well, then, let's go and get something to eat. First though, Jack Hotchner, I would like you to meet Spencer Reid. Spencer this is Jack."

"Why is he not Spencer Hotchner?" Jack asked.

"Because he is a Prince in his own right. His kingdom might be divided, and a mess but I plan on fixing that soon. He deserves to keep his name, and I deserve to keep mine. You'll get to know him better over this next week."

"Uncle Dave told me that I needed to knock before entering your bedroom now in case you were still in bed with Spencer."

"That is very true. It's very, very true. We can talk about that more tomorrow. For now, let's go and eat and be merry." Aaron looked at Spencer with a look of apprehension in his eyes. Spencer looked at Jack to see the boy looking at him as well, but he was looking with a little bit of fear in his eyes. 

Spencer now has a husband and a child, and he knew not what to do with either one of them. 

"You'll have to teach me how to be a father," Spencer said as he looked at Aaron's face before looking at Jack's again. Both of them were smiling brightly at Spencer's words. 

"We can do that." Aaron wrapped an arm around Spencer's shoulders and pulled him in close to kiss his lips. Jack smiled at Spencer, and as a unit, they started to move. 

Spencer got himself ready to face his people, his people. A term that he never thought he would have. He was ready to face the world even if he hadn't been ready to do that just hours before. The night he had been dreading was no longer that daunting. Aaron was willing to try, and he had spoken from the heart, Spencer knew that so he could do little else but try as well. 

The future looked bright, and Spencer was looking forward to it.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on Facebook, [here](https://www.facebook.com/darkjediqueen) & my writing page is [here](https://www.facebook.com/darkjediqueenlair). 
> 
> The Criminal Minds Bang is live for sign-ups! Please check it out [here](https://criminalmindsbangblog.wordpress.com/).


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